Monday, February 18, 2008

Remember Hello Dollies? The wonderful cavity-maker layer bars with chocolate chips, graham cracker crust and coconut?My friend Mary makes me some every Christmas, and they are definitely favorites! Well, yesterday I had the hankering for some cookies, but my oven has been acting up, so I needed a sweet recipe to do in our trusty toaster oven (I love my toaster oven).I settled on Hello Dollies, but one problem- what to substitute for the graham cracker crumbs? A little searching on the web revealed some great suggestions: substitute gluten free cookies ( any kind); use a flour mixture with butter and sugar... well, I did a bit of a hybrid!I often use GF cereal in place of breadcrumbs for breading meats, so I usually have some on hand. I also recently picked up some organic coconut flour, which I have been meaning to experiment with.

This becomes the base of the bar.Combine ingredients ( mix dry well before adding butter), and press into bottom of greased 9 x 9 pan. ( I use silicon- highly recommended!!)The rest is oh so easy!Ingredients:1 pkg chocolate chips1 can sweetened condensed milk1 bag dessicated or shredded coconut(you can also add white choc chips, Skor bar bits, etc or nuts if you like. I prefer to leave the nuts out)Simply layer the ingredients over the base . Chocolate chips, coconut, (nuts), condensed milk, and place in pre-heated 325* oven (or toaster oven!)They will take about 25-30 minutes. If doing in toaster oven, rotate halfway through, and you may need to put some tin foil loosely on top if it gets too brown. Let these cool at least 15- 20 minutes before trying to cut- they will need to set. Enjoy these outrageously sinful bars! Even my kids who "don't like coconut" LOVED these! Happy baking!

About Me

My love of food, cooking and baking has been enhanced by working in numerous restaurants over the years- the job I put up with in order to support my acting habit. A lot of great things came out of my time in the trenches, and I remain inspired to discover new palate pleasers, especially now that Gluten has been banished from our menu!!
I am also a mom, an actor and an artist, sharing my Toronto home with my husband, our 3 children, and our puppy, Lucy.